Playing the Hero
by Mackzazzle
Summary: The world has been divided into two. Sannin Orochimaru and Uchiha Itachi are at war. Uchiha Sasuke and Uzumaki Naruto are determined to fix this, but both have their own ways of doing this. SasuNaru, possible ItaNaru later, LeeSaku, ShikaTem, KibaHina. AU
1. Set the stage

I know my stories are short, but this one is purposefully so. It's the prologue, so tell me what you think. Pairings so far are: SasuNaru, possible ItaNaru later, LeeSaku, ShikaTem, KibaHina. Only the intro is from the characters point of view. I hope you enjoy!

* * *

World domination is everyone's dream. It's not a bad job really. It pays well, there are all sorts of perks and you can set your own hours. So it's hardly surprising that the King, Uchiha Itachi, was trying so very hard to maintain the power over the borders he had and attain power over that which he hadn't. This, however, did not bode well seeing as Sannin Orochimaru had hold of the rest of the world. He had usurped the kingdom from its previous ruler, Sarutobi. Sarutobi had retired from his position and left it to someone who refused to let anyone know his name. His people only knew him as 'Yondaime'. When Yondaime died, he had no known successors, thus Sarutobi had to take the thrown back, fighting to dethrone Itachi from his tyrannical reign. Then Orochimaru attacked, killing Sarutobi and taking his throne. Now the world was divided into two, Orochimaru and Itachi fighting head to head for world domination. It doesn't matter which on of them wins, the world is screwed. Neither are very pleasant rulers, so basically we need a hero, someone to come in and fight BOTH of them. And that's were I come in. My name is Uchiha Sasuke, Itachi's younger brother. I'm determined to overthrow him and save the world, I'm the only one willing to oppose either of the overlords. So, no pressure, really. At least I'm not going in alone. I have Kakashi, Neji, Haku, Zabuza, Kankuro, Shikamaru, Shino, and Hayate. That's something. Sure, my brother's got a legion of terrors, the 'akatsuki', and has four of the nine 'jinchuuriki's', but hey. I'm sure eight rebels can take on the most powerful beings this side of the world. Really, no pressure on this battle, at all. 

And if you can't feel the sarcasm radiating from my words, I suggest you go see a doctor.

* * *

'Jinchuuriki's. The nine tailed demon's, otherwise known as 'bijuu' are sealed into people at birth, these people become known as Jinchuuriki's. They are able to call on the power of the demon inside them and use their powers, for this reason armies and warriors often seek them out for their kingdoms power. The demon's themselves were originally targeted by the kingdom, but they proved to be too much to handle. Thus, Jinchuuriki's are used. An organization named the 'Akatsuki' has recently developed, searching for the nine Jinchuuriki's to use to their advantage. King Uchiha Itachi, as the founder of the akatsuki, is planning to use the Jinchuuriki's to win the war against Sannin Orochimaru' 

O.k, this is so boring. Seriously, who wrote this crap? Oh yeah, should probably introduce myself. Yo, name's Naruto. Uzumaki Naruto. So, basically, there's this war going on between the two kingdoms of the world. There used to be about six kingdoms, but they've been destroyed. Me and my friends are planning to fix this, we want to get the kingdoms back to the way they were. Besides me, there's Gaara, Hinata, Sakura, and Temari. They're the kids of the old rulers who we want to make rule over the kingdoms when we get order restored and stuff. There was a sixth kingdom, but that ruler had no known kids. Hinata had a little sister, but she was killed by Orochimaru. Temari and Gaara also had a sibling, but they haven't seen him since the war. They refuse to believe he's dead. There's also Kiba, TenTen, Chouji, Ino, Lee and Gai. It's us against the world. Literally. Wow, this battles gonna go well, huh!

* * *

Right, there's the intro. The plot's there, I've got the characters, the stage is set, let the play begin! 


	2. A day in the life

Right, here's the second chapter. Hoping that anyone who enjoyed the first one thinks this just as good. So, read and review!

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"In the land of Sound, Orochimaru reigns. In the Land of Lightening, Itachi reigns. The logical step is to take out Orochimaru seeing as he's the closest to us. He also has fewer forces than Itachi, so it'll be easier to take him out."

Haruno Sakura told her friends as sat in their camp around the fire. "Glad we've got a smart tactician Strawberry" Gaara said sceptically. "I'm just making sure everyone knows Shukaku. Some people" and here she gave a pointed look to Naruto "Aren't exactly the sharpest of people."

Naruto looked at her sadly. "Why Strawberry, you wound me! Do you honestly find me to be such a dunce? How horrible, and here I thought we were friends!"

Sakura couldn't help but laugh at her friend's overly dramatic performance. He was always good at lightening the mood.

"Aw, don't worry Kyuubi, we still love you!" Ino giggled as she glomped him from behind.

"You'd better, otherwise I'd have to look out for a rebellion in the rebellion! And that'd just be stupid!" Naruto laughed.

"Dinner's ready!" Temari yelled to the group. Hinata started dishing up the meal, boar meat with potatoes. They'd hunted the boar and a disguised TenTen bought the potatoes at the market.

"Thanks Bunny" Kiba winked at Hinata as she passed him his meal. Hinata blushed deeply and stuttered out a thanks. It was no secret that Kiba and Hinata liked each other, Kiba wanted to ask her out, but they always got interrupted whenever he was able to get her alone. Hinata had liked Naruto at first, as he'd been the one who'd rescued her when Orochimaru attacked their kingdom, but then Kiba had joined them and she realised that Naruto wasn't the one.

After eating and washing up, the group had sat at the fire again, and were simply talking, enjoying this rare moment of peace.

Everyone in the group had a nickname, no one said anyone else's real name. This was so that if they were ever being spied on, or captured, then their identities would not be revealed. Naruto was Kyuubi, Gaara was Shukaku, Sakura was Strawberry, Hinata was Bunny, Temari was Aero, Kiba was Canine, TenTen was Panda, Chouji was Tanker, Ino was Blossom, Lee was Rocky and Gai was Heero. Gai and Lee were on guard duty tonight, their dinner was warming over the fire for when they got back.

Naruto was their leader, he had brought the group together and trained them in combat. Everyone there had lost their families due to the war, whether they were royalty and their thrones had been usurped, or their families were soldiers. Naruto had never known his parents, he was orphaned at birth. Looking at the teenagers now, it was hard to believe that such a small group that was so happy and young, was the greatest threat to Orochimaru.

They all knew that the reason was because Naruto and Gaara had demons sealed inside of them. They were Jinchuuriki's, and were nicknamed for their demons. While this may give them away if they were being spied on, the two refused to be called anything else.

* * *

"So this is what we've resorted too"

"…"

"Hiding like little girls from the 'big bad wolf'"

"…"

"Well, don't you just make for sparkling conversation and razor wit"

"shut up"

Kankuro gasped mockingly at Sasuke "and Lo, the bastard speaks!"

Sasuke glared at him. This idiot had to stop talking. 'Why do I put up with him again?' he asked himself. 'He's another prince, yeah, but why does he have to stick with me all the time? He's not even next in line for the throne!"

"Come ON! Why don't we go out there and fight the bastards, I'm through with being a stupid coward and running away!"

"Shh! They're coming!" Sasuke whispered to him.

"I bet Gaara would've fought" Kankuro mumbled under his breath before looking away dejectedly.

Sasuke found himself feeling sorry for the boy next to him. He too had lost family because of the war, his parent's had died and his brother and sister had disappeared. He didn't even know if they were alive. They stayed silent as two men walked past, they were hiding in a river, underneath the grass that had grown long enough to float over the water.

"Did you see the brats?" a rather… _fishy _looking man asked the other. "They're not anywhere I can find" a red headed man replied. "Well gee Sasori, aren't you helpful" the fish guy scoffed. "Shut it Kisame, I don't see you with them either" Sasori sniped at him. "Well, let's keep looking then!" Kisame yelled, storming back into the woods. Sasori sighed and walked in the opposite direction.

"That was too close" Sasuke sighed when he was sure they were gone. Kankuro gulped, and Sasuke turned to smirk at him. "I see you weren't so eager to fight them then" he said smugly.

Kankuro turned to glare at him. "Shut up man, I know that guy, Sasori. He was an old friend of my dad's. At least, I thought he was…"

Sasuke stayed silent, life was like this for them. Having to hide from everyone they saw, seeing old friends betray you, spending entire days in the mud, it was life for them. 'But not for long' Sasuke thought to himself. 'Just you wait brother, I'll kill you soon enough'

* * *

"Wake up! Wake up, come on! Quickly! Wake UP!" Rock Lee whispered to Naruto, shaking him awake. Gai was across camp doing the same to Hinata. Naruto stared groggily up at him "Wha'?"

Seeing the urgency in Lee's facial expressions, Naruto shot out of bed and looked at him. Lee blinked, shocked by the speed at which Naruto could move at when he wanted to. "They've found us, wake everyone up, Sound nin's are moving in!" Lee whispered urgently. The both turned to shake the others awake, they had no time to pack up their tents or food, they had to move quickly.

When everyone was awake, the group ran. They stuck together, but they had to move quickly. They heard a horn, that was the sign that they were close. The group picked up their speed, trying desperately to avoid another confrontation. Naruto turned to count everyone then cursed.

"Blossom's not here!" he told the group. Everyone's eyes widened, but Sakura stopped completely. She turned around to run back after her best friend.

"Shit! Guys, keep moving, we'll catch up!" Naruto told his friends. "But-" Kiba began, but Naruto cut him off "Go!" He hissed, and set off after Sakura. "Strawberry! We move together, remember!" Naruto hissed at the frantic girl. "I don't care! Blossom's like my sister! We've been together forever!" Sakura whispered, trying to stay quiet and hold back sobs. Naruto looked down solemnly. Sakura and Ino had been together when he'd found them, Sakura was unconscious, the Sound nin's were trying to kill her because she was the princess of the Water country. Ino had been standing in front of them, bloody and bruised, she clearly couldn't stand for another minute, but she took every blow they aimed for the princess.

"We got a live one!" Sakura and Naruto froze for a minute, then jumped up into the trees to hide. Staring down at the scene below them, they saw two nin's running to the direction of the yelling. Following them from above, Naruto and Sakura saw Ino fighting off another girl when she was hit from behind by one of the nin's. Sakura made to move, but Naruto grabbed her back and hissed in her ear quietly "Wait! We need to think!"

Sakura saw the hurt in Naruto's eyes at his command, but knew it was for the best. They had to wait or an opening.

"Well, well, well, what have we here" one of the boys sneered at Ino. She glared up at him, then cried out in pain as the nin holding her yanked her hair back. "You caught a pretty one Kin" the other nin said mockingly. "What say we have some fun with her Zaku?"

They'd let their guard down, Naruto nodded to Sakura and disappeared. Sakura climbed down from her hiding place and got into position, waiting for Naruto.

It wasn't long before Naruto appeared from nowhere and threw the boy holding Ino into a tree. The nin hadn't expected this and went flying, taking some of Ino's hair with him. Ino winced and took a fighting stance. "Strawberry'll have to heal you" Naruto said to her. Ino looked up at him and saw his eyes glowing red. "Well hello Kyuubi. Calling on your namesake?" Ino coughed a little, blood flying from her mouth. "Watch out for the girl, she's tough" Ino moaned. Naruto nodded and ran forwards to hit them, unsheathing his sword.

Sakura came running out as Naruto went after the girl, Kin. She went after Dosu. Ino ran over to the unconscious nin Naruto had thrown into the tree and stripped him of all his medicines, foods, drinks and any other things they might find useful. It was something they did every time they beat an enemy, it was their way of life.

It took them half an hour to beat the nin's, but eventually they managed. Now they just had to find the others. Sakura ran over to Ino and hugged her tightly when the battle was over, then promptly healed both her friends.

"They went this way" Naruto told them, noticing Kiba's markings on the tree. "Let's move" Sakura said, Ino nodding in agreement. They ran off to find their friends, following Kiba's subtle markings.

* * *

"Yo! We've returned!" Kankuro yelled to the camp. They looked up to face him, then went back to whatever they were doing.

"Such a cheery place, did I mention how much I enjoy being here?" Kankuro moaned sarcastically. Kakashi walked over to them and ruffled Sasuke's hair.

"well, how's our favourite little prince then?" Kakashi smiled at him under his mask as Sasuke batted his hand away. Kankuro looked at him in fake shock "Why, Kakashi! You wound me!" he clutched his heart dramatically and sighed.

Kakashi chuckled at him and patted him on the head. "Worry not Kankuro, for you come in as a close second"

"Dinner is ready" Haku said quietly, handing them a bowl each.

"Food! Oh how I missed you!" Kankuro yelled excitedly. "Someone calm the clown down" Zabuza yelled from across the camp. Kankuro glared at him and proceeded to eat his food.

"We almost got caught by the akatsuki again" Sasuke said shortly. Kakashi stared at him for a minute. "Are you alright?" Sasuke nodded at him. "We hid in the river, which is why we're so wet" Kakashi didn't press the issue any further. Instead, he sat down and ate his own dinner.

'Such a solemn camp' he thought to himself. 'We really need some cheering up around here. Kankuro tries, but there needs to be more. Curse this war' Kakashi sighed as he pulled his mask back up. He truly hated this life.

* * *

As requested, I've put in spaces. Is this better? I hope so! Thanks for reading!


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